Supporting Local Missions

Looking for a
chance to serve the community? Our congregation actively supports these
local missions in a variety of ways. We can help you find the volunteer
opportunity that is right for you.

Limestone members purchase
Fair Trade coffee and chocolate at the Share
Our Blessings/Alternative Gift Market
program in December. Funds from the purchases go to local, regional and world missions.

Brethren Service Center

The Brethren Service Center in New
Windsor, Maryland, owned and operated by the Church of the Brethren, hosts organizations that work in areas of relief and development, disaster response, social justice, peace education and hospitality. The Church of the Brethren works in conjunction with Church World Service in a mission to resettle refugees who come to the United States for a better
life, and provides training and volunteers to coordinate emergency response and disaster relief packages to meet national and international needs. Limestone Men and Women Ministries
make an annual mission outreach trip to the Brethren Service Center to sort, pack, unpack,
and prepare the mailing of the many Church World Service mission kits
sent around the world.

Limestone
members participate in the annual October CROP WALK, sponsored by Church World Service and hosted by Newark United Methodist Church.
One quarter of the funds raised go to local food missions, such as Hope Dining Room in Newark, Delaware Food Bank, Elkton Community Kitchen, and Friendship House in Wilmington. The rest of the
funds are used by Church World Service to provide food and tools to help create food resources in communities throughout the world.

Emmanuel Dining Room

The Ministry of Caring's Emmanuel Dining Room has three facilities in
Wilmington that provide nutritious meals daily to the hungry. Limestone members volunteer to bake cookies,
cook turkeys, and serve a meal on the 24th of each month.

Friendship House is a non-profit Christian
corporation committed to making a difference in the lives of the homeless and impoverished people in Wilmington. Friendship
House provides day centers, residential, transitional housing programs, and
emergency shelters for both men and women. Friendship House maintains the Clothing Bank of Delaware which provides free distribution of donated clothing to the poor. Limestone
contributes to this mission with our fall Clothing Bank drive and financial support through
the Alternative/Fair Trade Gift Market and CROP Walk.

Habitat
for Humanity builds "affordable housing at no profit through a combination of volunteer labor, 'sweat-equity' and no-interest mortgages.
We reach out from Christian roots across denominational, faith, economic and racial lines to bring together people who are concerned for their neighbors."
Limestone members have been actively involved in this program since
1999.

Founded in Wilmington in 1967,
Pacem in Terris (Latin for "Peace on Earth") strives to facilitate the active participation of people and organizations on the Delmarva Peninsula, especially the religious community, on issues and projects relevant to the quest for peace, justice, and sustainability throughout the world. They seek to change attitudes and actions and to help people understand that peace is a necessity, now and in the future. Limestone supports and participates in Pacem in Terris' Ulster Project, Delaware, which brings 18 Northern Irish Catholic and Protestant teenagers, aged 14 to 16, and four adult leaders to Wilmington during the month of July where they live with local host teenagers. Through a variety of activities--social, spiritual, service, and recreational, group building occurs and is continued once they return home through a two-year program of reunions and follow-up activities.

Meeting Ground

Meeting Ground is a mission in
Elkton, Maryland that houses men, women and children who have basic needs of food, clothing and shelter. Each year
Meeting Ground provides over 18,000 bed nights of emergency and transitional housing, serves over 35,000 meals, assists over 300 persons in the transition from being
homeless, and are available 24/7 for referrals and supportive services.
Limestone Menís Ministry supports Meeting Ground by providing hands-on maintenance:
painting, repairing, cleaning, and landscaping.

Road to Recovery

American
Cancer Society's Road to Recovery provides cancer patients with transportation to and from scheduled appointments.
Limestone volunteer drivers donate their time and use of their personal vehicles to take patients to
and from treatments.

Heifer International was founded in 1944 by Church of the Brethren educator Dan West. From the beginning, the vision has encompassed all spiritual paths and all people who understood that to serve God, we serve our brothers and sisters. Heifer's mission is to work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the Earth. This simple idea of giving families a source of food rather than short-term relief caught on and has continued for over 65 years. Today, millions of families in 128 countries have been given the gifts of self-reliance and hope. Limestone financially supports Heifer throughout the year, and also supports Tim and Gloria Wheeler, Heifer Project missionaries working in Honduras. Read more about their story
here.

Urban Promise has grown to four locations in the US and
Canada since 1988. Urban Promise Wilmington operates three summer camps for at-risk youth, four after-school programs,
the Wilmington Forward Christian School for grades Pre-K through First Grade,
and a Street Leader job-training program for high school youth.
Limestone supports Urban Promise Wilmington outreach to at-risk youth with our Pentecost Offering
and by providing after-school
tutors.

Serving
Regional and World Missions (Partial List)

In
recent years, Limestone members have supported regional and world
missions by:

Traveling to Kenya to donate and plant over a thousand Moringa trees to help
restore decimated forests,
and to build a school and a church.

Traveling to a remote
mountain village in Honduras to help build homes and a school, make furniture,
sew projects, assist with dental care, and plan activities for children in the
community.

Donating funds from car washes to pay for desks in an Honduras school.

Donating a special offering at each baptism service to Kenya's Rehabilitation Center for Children.

Traveling to the Gulf Coast to help rebuild homes after Hurricane Katrina.

Attending and working at Johnsonburg Camp, a
Presbyterian Camp and Conference Center for children
renew and youth in New Jersey, each summer.

Sharing Godís Gifts

Annually, Presbyterians feed the hungry, respond to disasters, care for the sick, minister to children and youth, support racial ethnic schools and colleges, train young adult leaders, and make peace in homes, communities, and nations through four churchwide Special Offerings. To learn more about these offerings visit the
Presbyterian Mission Agency
website.